


the yard is full of tiny flowers

by fallish



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Bonding, Connor & North (Detroit: Become Human) Friendship, Friendship, Gen, North Deserves to be Happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 12:22:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21428152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallish/pseuds/fallish
Summary: North needs a hobby. She might have accidentally acquired a new friend instead.
Relationships: Connor & North (Detroit: Become Human)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 109





	the yard is full of tiny flowers

With Markus and Simon spending so much time together, and Josh city planning for New Jericho with the human government, North found herself with a lot of time on her hands. She wasn’t part of Markus’ new team to achieve peace with the humans, at her own decision, and she was  _ bored _ . 

After the first two days of meetings, North decided that while her paranoia may have been decreasing after getting a door to lock, her stress levels were about the same from having to be in the same room as humans for long periods of time. Markus had suggested she take some time off. She responded that she should maybe just retire from this type of field work. Grudgingly, Markus had agreed.

With her off the team, they made headway a little bit faster, and for the most part, a little bit smoother. Without North to bring the suspicion that echoed between the two groups, they seemed more hopeful in the goodwill the humans were offering to provide.

This may sound surprising, but North was fairly unwilling to become a house-anything. She stayed in Markus’ old home, but there was nothing to do. She wandered the halls, finding glimpses of his old life, and realizing just how little she knew about his past. The studio had been the real goldmine.

Markus had several of his paintings around the sunlit area, but he left most of his father’s works where his father had left them. She had enjoyed the area so much, she decided to try to get a hobby, maybe start trying out art. And so it began.

***

Art was decidedly a no. There were to many brushes and rules and things she didn’t know how to do. No matter how much Markus messaged her, excited for her to learn, her progress wasn’t fast enough for her to enjoy it. They were so long distance, North barely felt anything beyond companionship to the other at this point. Mutually, they had called it a day for art and their budding relationship. She teased that he was too busy falling for Simon anyways, and politely ignored his blush while he stammered out a denial.

Next, she moved on to asking other androids for suggestions. 

Simon, a part of Markus’ peace team, and if North was not mistaken, an android hopelessly in love with their fearless leader, had suggested she try something to do with water. He and the team spent most of their free time relaxing in hotel pools, processing the events of the day and cooling off where their ventilation sometimes didn’t suffice. North had gone to a swimming pool and immediately turned around. There were so many humans that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to run away first or gag.

Josh had suggested that she try meditating. He put on some instrumental music and invited her to sit with him for some time. Ten minutes into the experience, she peaked her right eye open to see if he was serious about sitting in one place for thirty straight minutes. He wasn’t moving. If North had it in her to say it, it didn’t look like he was ventilating either. Blinking rapidly to clear her eyes, she checked the time. Barely ten minutes had passed, and while she had tried her best, she felt as though she would vibrate out of her skin. If she still had her LED, it would be yellow.

Finally, the only other android she knew personally after all this time, she went to Connor. She found him at the house of one of the police officers from one of the first local police meetings Markus had attended while she was still part of the team. The android was dressed in pajamas and flip flops when he opened the door.

“That’s a look,” she smirked walking in, taking in the home. “So what’s the plan? I thought you were gonna have this all set up by the time I got here.” The kitchen looked slightly messy, but she didn’t expect much out of two men living by themselves. “Where’s the good lieutenant on this fine Wednesday morning?”

Connor sighed as he closed the door. “Well, it is currently 10 A.M., so the lieutenant would be at work right now.” He turned back to the kitchen where a mug was half filled with coffee. Reaching into the fridge, he pulled out a pouch of thirium with a screw on lid and gestured towards her. She shook her head, watching him shrug and pour some into his drink. “As for what we are doing, let me get changed and I will show you.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the punctual one?” she muttered as she sat on a couch in the next room. A large creature shuffled out into the main room. “Also, I think your dog might be getting a little too curious. He’s looking at me funny,” She yelled louder after him, pulling her feet up. 

“Down, Sumo! We will go out in a minute.” Connor came back into the room, dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans, his LED cycling blue as the large dog leaned heavily into his knees. “He is harmless. Come out. I am glad you took my advice in wearing clothes you do not mind getting dirty.”

He was correct about that. North was outfitted in a loose black shirt and some ratty jeans she found at a thrift shop for free. Her jacket was a hoodie she had found at a coffee shop a few days earlier, when a barista had announced a lost jacket. It fit her well, and it wasn’t like she could buy her own clothes right now. She refused to feel guilty about it.

Connor opened the back door, leading the two of them plus Sumo, who was attempting to wriggle out before them, into the fenced backyard. There area by the fence was covered in flowering plants, native grass, and other beautiful plant life. 

“Today, North, we are gardening.” The previously nicknamed deviant hunter had no stress in his face. “But only kind of.” Grinning, he pulled a pair of gloves out of his back pocket. “I only suggested this because I needed some help, but I figured, as Hank says, I would try to take out two birds with one stone.”

North’s face was pretty on par with what could be expected. She had no idea what that phrase meant, but she sure as hell was going along with it. “Right. Okay. Can you say that with words that make sense?”

Connor rolled his eyes. “I am going to help you figure out what it is that you need. From what I have deduced, Markus’ interests made him happy, but you are too much of a perfectionist to enjoy that level of creative expression-”

“Hey!” North interrupted. “I love to do lots of creative things!”

If she wasn’t pouting while she said it, Connor may have even believed her. “You probably do,” he allowed, “but maybe something without as many variables. Josh tried meditation, which frankly is the least creative thing you could do. No variables at all. It was too in your head.” She looked away and fumbled putting the gloves on her hands. “Gardening might actually be perfect. Enough work that you cannot think of anything but what your plants are exhibiting, and very physically concentrated, so you can still be creative in how you arrange things, picking containers, etcetera.”

The two started towards the supplies Connor had meticulously arranged in the covered area to the side of the house. “I think I can look into this,” North pulled out a large pair of shears. “Might come in handy.” Connor giggled as the sheer heaviness of the pair sent North off balance, stumbling as she struggled to lean them against the fence.

Taking them from her, Connor continued, “If this fails, perhaps we can look into physical activity that you would enjoy. Hiking might be good.” The android stood completely unhindered as he lifted other things out of the crate area as well. She shrugged as he handed her a few smaller items, a trowel and a cultivator and tried not to let the weight show on her face. She had a sneaking suspicion that he already knew how much it weighed to her.

“Maybe. So what made you start gardening?” North asked as she dumped the tools down in the grass, folding her legs into a butterfly position. “How did you figure out this was something you wanted to do?” Sumo came over as soon as he saw her sit. He lay down, placing his giant, sturdy head in her lap. Awkwardly, she put a hand atop his head. She flinched as he snuffled, settling into his position.

“Well, I see Sumo has you tied up. I guess you are stuck now, huh? I did not expect much but wow,” He laughed glancing over at the pair as he checked over his mint plant, picking out brown leaves as he did. The pot was waist height and as he leaned into it, his eyes kept flickering to her. “I do not really share the story of my journey to deviancy often, so pardon me if I get emotional. It is only my intention to tell you what you wish to know.”

“I began to garden because of my handler from CyberLife.” he started, looking at North and analyzing her reaction. She simply looked on, nodding at him to continue as she pet Sumo’s head. “Her name was Amanda, and to create reports for CyberLife, I would meet her in the zen garden she created for us. It was all in my head, a beautiful garden with a bridge in the center, and water that flowed underneath it. There were stepping stones, and it was really serene. I always felt like I was home there. Always, until the last time I entered the garden, it was calm.”

He moved, flitting between his bush like plants and his flowering plants. The shears snapped loudly as he took some of the excess buds off the plants, cutting in precise motions. “There was a blizzard in the garden that last time, and I thought she really might take control of me. I thought I would be kicked out of my own head. I could not describe it to you. I thought everyone was in danger, including myself. Kamski told me he put an exit, a way to get out of this very situation, in every program. We were at the end, on top of the shipping container. I was desperate. I did not have a choice.”

North looked up sharply. The gun pointed at Markus’ back. She remembered the way Connor’s eyes seemed wild after he stepped off the crate. The way no one heard from him for weeks after the revolution had ended. Markus had wanted to send out a search party. Simon and North had both assured him that Connor would find his way back. His back turned, he didn’t look up from his shears.

“I never knew if she really was sentient or not. Maybe she was making her own decisions every step of the way. Maybe CyberLife had someone controlling every word she said to me. I don’t know. Kamski’s exit wiped every trace of her program from my drive. I don’t have anything but memories of her.” His voice broke as he recounted the woman in his head. “But I do this in case she was.”

He turned back to North. “I love this garden. When the sun lights it up, like today, it feels like the zen garden used to. I like it here.” He walked back and placed a fully bloomed yellow rose in her hand, stem carefully trimmed of thorns. Sumo had indeed fallen asleep, as Connor had expected, and North remained trapped as she accepted the flower. “You do not need an emotional connection with whatever you choose to do, but it sometimes helps to have one. I hope that you pursue what you enjoy. If you need someone to try it with you, I am free to accompany you.”

North, quiet all this time, spoke up softly, eyes stuck to the flower in her hands. “I think I want to learn self defense. Those shears were pretty heavy. I should learn. Wanna come with me?” Connor nodded thoughtfully.

“You do have a connection with that. I believe it will be good.” He gathered his supplies to move them back to the crate. “I am equipped with some self defense, so if you would like to do it here, without any humans, I would be happy to teach you.” 

North smiled up at him, “That would be wonderful, Connor.” 

He joined her in the grass, laying down to look at the sky. “At the very least, I think you may have had fun today.” He closed his eyes, letting the sun warm his body in the cool air.

“Yeah, I did.” She laid down next to him. 

They move to talking about the shapes they see in the clouds and enjoying the sun. Sumo decided to wake up and crawl over their laughing figures as he tried to play. 

Despite everything, they are happier than they were before they talked.

**Author's Note:**

> more than 30 minutes again (i let myself have an hour)  
have some more self indulgent stuff. i like to have fun y'all.  
today's prompt: water flowed  
i needed to have them both in the same place so they could be friends. this is what came out.


End file.
